20110520 Follow Me 10

10，10原文地址：http://www.bloomberg.com/news/20 ... ance-u-s-norms.html

Strauss-Kahn ‘Perp Walk,’ Naming Victim Divide France, U.S.


The New York “perp walk” of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, charged with sexually assaulting a hotel maid,
underscores the differences in U.S. and French norms that are causing misunderstandings between the two countries.


Images of a haggard Strauss-Kahn in handcuffs being led away by police officers created an uproar in France. Meanwhile, the name of the alleged victim was published in French newspapers, something the mainstream U.S. press has refrained from doing to conserve her privacy.


“There are certain cultural mores which plainly differ between France and the U.S.,” said Floyd Abrams, a partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP in New York. In the U.S., “after someone is arrested, he is treated as public person so there is not the view of it being a violation of privacy.”


Strauss-Kahn, 62, until this week the head of the International Monetary Fund and a leading French presidential contender, was granted bail yesterday after being held at New York’s Rikers Island jail complex following his arraignment May 16 on charges he attempted to rape a hotel maid in Manhattan. He has denied the charges.


French television stations, which initially ran footage of the handcuffed, unshaven Strauss-Kahn being led to his arraignment -- popularly known to New Yorkers as the perp walk- - were asked by the Conseil Superieur de l’Audiovisuel, the broadcast authority, to exercise “the greatest restraint” in showing the images.


Former Culture Minister Jack Lang called the coverage a “lynching.” Former Justice Minister Elisabeth Guigou called it “absolutely shocking.” Guigou was behind a 2000 law that bars French media from showing suspects in handcuffs, on grounds that it undermines their presumption of innocence.
American Way


That’s not how it’s seen in America.


“The perp walk is a pretty much honored part of the legal process,” said Robert Balin, a partner with Davis Wright Tremaine LLP in New York. “In the U.S., it is serving the public interest for the public to be seeing the beginning of the judicial process and serves as a deterrent effect.”


For the U.S., the public’s right to know about an arrest is paramount, while in France the privacy -- even of a criminal suspect -- takes precedence.


“For the moment, the French media has been very restrained” in avoiding saying or writing anything to imply guilt, said Dominique de Leusse de Syon, a member of Strauss- Kahn’s legal team. “The problem is the images, whether they convey Mr. Strauss-Kahn as guilty.”
Naming the Victim


Strauss-Kahn’s indictment, made public yesterday, has seven counts including criminal sex act; attempted rape; sexual abuse; unlawful imprisonment; and forcible touching. He is scheduled to be arraigned in New York on June 6. Defense lawyers said Strauss-Kahn will plead not guilty.


France’s ban on showing perp walks might not survive a challenge at the European Court of Human Rights, said Christophe Bigot, a French media lawyer.


“The law is completely against freedom of the press,” he said. While there have been convictions in France under the law, no one so far has taken a challenge to Human Rights Court in Strasbourg, France.


Meanwhile,
some French media have named Strauss-Kahn’s accuser.
U.S. media have only gone as far as identifying her as a 32-year-old immigrant from Guinea who goes by Ophelia, which is not her real name.


The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that
the
press can’t be barred from printing the name of rape victims, although states have shield laws protecting them.
Protecting Victims


Hiding their name has a long history in American journalism, said Sandra Baron, executive director of the Media Law Resource Center in New York.


“Sexual abuse victims will be far more reluctant to come forward and make the claim if they know their identity will be made known to the community at large,” she said. “In an effort to protect the victims, and to encourage their coming forward and reporting criminal sexual assaults, the authorities and the press have not identified them, for the most part.”


Le Figaro, France’s leading morning newspaper, named the alleged victim only after other media had done the same, said Philippe Gelie, editor-in-chief and former Washington bureau chief.


“It’s something that we did struggle with, and it’s something we don’t normally do, but we figured it wouldn’t harm her to have her name in a French newspaper,” he said. “Our paper is not that well distributed in New York.”
Public Interest


Afternoon newspaper Le Monde and news magazine Le Nouvel Observateur didn’t return calls seeking comment on why they chose to publish her full name. Newspaper Liberation said in yesterday’s issue that it wouldn’t divulge her name.


“Some in the press have contended that it is unfair to the accused to identify him or her, but not to allow public exposure of the accuser,” Baron said.


In a case like this where Balin says “the public interest is exceedingly strong,” he and Abrams agree it is only a matter of time before her name and photo appear in major U.S. press outlets.


“Surely we’ll be seeing a picture of her soon,” said Abrams.

8，8
Geithner's view of Strauss-Kahn from BBC
Dominique Strauss-Kahn is "not in a position to run" the International Monetary Fund after his arrest over an alleged sexual assault, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said.

Mr Geithner said the IMF's executive board should designate an interim head.

The alleged assault on a maid happened at New York's luxury Sofitel hotel on 14 May.

Mr Strauss-Kahn - who denies the claims - has been put on suicide watch in the city's infamous Rikers Island prison.

As a precaution, guards are required to check on him every 15 to 30 minutes.

'Honest woman'

The 62-year-old, who had been seen as a favourite in France's 2012 presidential elections, faces seven charges and could be sentenced to up to 25 years in jail.

The defence offered to post $1m (£617,000) bail, with Mr Strauss-Kahn to stay at his daughter's address in New York until the next hearing on Friday. However, a New York judge rejected the application.

"It's not just my opinion that this woman is honest," Jeffrey Shapiro said. "The New York City Police Department (NYPD) reached the same conclusion. This is a woman with no agenda."

Addressing the Harvard Club in New York on Tuesday, Mr Geithner said the most important thing for the IMF was that it found a leader to fill Mr Strauss-Kahn's shoes.

"He is obviously not in a position to run the IMF," Mr Geithner said.

"It is important that the board of the IMF formally put in place for an interim period someone to act as managing director."

It is the first time that a top official from President Barack Obama's administration has publicly spoken about the impact of Mr Strauss-Kahn's alleged sexual assault.

However, Mr Geithner refused to comment on the case or the details of the charges against Mr Strauss-Kahn.

Since Mr Strauss-Kahn's arrest last Saturday, his deputy John Lipsky has been serving as acting managing director of the global lending agency.


Mr Geithner refused to be drawn on the legal challenges facing Mr Strauss-Kahn Washington has a major say in determining who runs the IMF, because it has the largest number of votes in the organisation.

Mr Strauss-Kahn is not due back in court until Friday - and there are growing calls for the IMF to fill the leadership vacuum, the BBC's Steve Kingstone in Washington reports.

Earlier, Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter said Mr Strauss-Kahn was "hurting" the organisation.

West African immigrant

More details have been emerging about the woman who accused Mr Strauss-Kahn of assaulting her in the suite at the Sofitel hotel near Times Square.

Prosecution list of charges
Jeffrey Shapiro said she was an immigrant from the West African nation of Guinea. She arrived in the US seven years ago and was living with her teenage daughter.

Mr Shapiro said her story was "consistent" because she was telling the truth.

"There is no way in which there is any aspect of this event which could be construed consensual in any manner. This is nothing other than a physical, sexual assault by this man on this young woman."

Mr Shapiro also said that his client only became aware of who Mr Strauss-Kahn was after the police were called.

According to the NYPD, the maid told officers that when she entered his suite on Saturday afternoon, Mr Strauss-Kahn emerged from the bathroom naked, chased her and sexually assaulted her.

The woman was able to break free and alert the authorities, a NYPD spokesman added.

Later on Saturday, Mr Strauss-Kahn was detained on board an Air France flight at New York's John F Kennedy airport minutes before take-off.

The IMF chief underwent medical examinations on Sunday. Police were looking for scratches or any other evidence of his alleged assault.

He was later charged with a "criminal sexual act, unlawful imprisonment and attempted rape". Police say the maid formally identified him in a line-up.

Until he was arrested, Mr Strauss-Kahn was considered a favourite to become the Socialist candidate for the French presidency next year.

Opinion polls gave him a good chance of defeating President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Mr Strauss-Kahn's wife, French TV personality Anne Sinclair, has also protested his innocence.

Meanwhile, another allegation against Mr Strauss-Kahn has emerged. French writer Tristane Banon, 31, says she may file a complaint for an alleged sexual assault in 2002.

2 2 follow

8 and 8.
what a pity to read these words, maybe he is right, but he should be a victimtor.

Ex-IMF Chief Makes Bail; Scramble Over Successor
By MICHAEL ROTHFELD

Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be released Friday from a New York jail where he has been locked up since Monday on charges he sexually assaulted a hotel maid. The decision capped a frenzied week at the IMF as world powers scrambled to name a successor to a fallen leader once credited with revitalizing the international institution.
State Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus agreed over the objections of prosecutors on Thursday to release Mr. Strauss-Kahn on a package that included a $1 million cash bail, a $5 million bond and 24-hour home confinement in a Manhattan apartment rented by his wife at an undisclosed address. The detention will be enforced by video surveillance and at least one armed guard. Turning to the French diplomat, the judge said, "you will be subjected to and you will have the benefit of the protection of the criminal court system....I expect that you will be here for the occasion."

The most serious of the charges against Mr. Strauss-Kahn, criminal sexual act, carries up to 25 years in prison, though lawyers have said that even if he went to trial and was convicted on that charge, he'd be unlikely to serve a sentence that high. He hasn't yet entered a plea but his lawyer said his greatest interest "is to clear his name."

After the 62-year-old Mr. Strauss-Kahn resigned from the IMF late Wednesday, saying he was leaving to "protect the institution," the battle for the top job kicked into high gear, with France and Germany defending Europe's traditional role in filling the post and emerging nations arguing now is their time to lead the institution.

The question of who will succeed Mr. Strauss-Kahn as IMF managing director comes as the global balance of economic power is shifting. Europeans argue that the urgency of solving their own problems, including their sovereign-debt crisis that threatens the global economy, argue for placing a European in the job.

On Thursday, the European Central Bank warned it may pull the plug on funding for Greek banks in the event of any restructuring of Greece's government debt, an escalation in what until now had been a behind-the-scenes dispute.

The U.S., the IMF's single largest shareholder, isn't supporting the developing countries' call for a change in course. The U.S. position could mean the next IMF chief is a European, as has been the case since the organization was founded six decades ago.

While other high-profile European names have surfaced, including European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, Christine Lagarde, a corporate lawyer who has been France's finance minister since 2007 has emerged as the front-runner for the job.

Judge Obus' decision came after prosecutors revealed a grand jury indicted Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who entered the hearing through a rear door of the courtroom in a gray suit and a light blue dress shirt. He smiled in the direction of his wife and daughter, who were at the front of the courtroom, before sitting somberly through the proceedings.

The judge said that there is "a serious risk" that Mr. Strauss-Kahn could attempt to flee the country and that it would be difficult to extradite him from France. But he said he was willing to grant bail given the security proposal outlined by Mr. Strauss-Kahn's lawyer.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn could have visitors to the apartment, in a number to be determined by the security firm, which would escort him to appointments, including with his lawyers. If he tried to escape, the guards would restrain him, said his lawyer, William Taylor, calling the plan "the most restrictive possible conditions." Mr. Strauss-Kahn would pay the cost of the security firm.

The indictment, which mirrors the charges initially filed following his arrest, charges Mr. Strauss-Kahn with two counts of a criminal sexual act in the first degree, attempted rape in the first degree, sexual abuse in the first and third degrees, unlawful imprisonment in the second degree and forcible touching. Several of the charges are high-level felonies.

A prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorney's office, John McConnell, had opposed bail, saying his office hadn't had time to review the proposal, and he called Mr. Strauss-Kahn an "existential" risk to flee based on his "access to enormous resources and a network of contacts around the world."

But Mr. Taylor said his client didn't run from the scene. He left the Sofitel hotel at 12:25 p.m. on Saturday, about a half-hour after the alleged attack, and about 20 minutes later sat down for lunch with a relative at a restaurant near the hotel in midtown Manhattan, "in plain view of the entire world." He took a taxi to the airport about 2:15 p.m., Mr. Taylor said.

Mr. Taylor said Mr. Strauss-Kahn has about $2 million in assets, including an account "in the low seven figures" in the U.S. His wife, Anne Sinclair, has "substantially greater" assets, including ownership of a $4 million home in Washington.

9  5


We want you out, world's banking big shots tell embattled IMFchief Dominique Strauss-Kahn

BY BILL HUTCHINSON

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, May 18th 2011, 4:00 AM

The world's banking big shots arepressuring Dominique Strauss-Kahn to resign as chief of the InternationalMonetary Fund while he battles sex-assault charges.

Locked up on Rikers Island without bail,the powerful Frenchman's scandal is causing global jitters, especially infinancially strapped European countries.

Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fektercalled on Strauss-Kahn to consider the reputation ofthe IMF over his own.

"Considering the situation, that bailwas denied, he has to figure out for himself that he ishurting the institution," Fekter told the Financial Times as shearrived at a meeting of European finance ministers in Brussels yesterday.

Spanish Finance Minister Elena Salgadosided with the Manhattan maid who has accused Strauss-Kahn of attempting torape her in his luxury hotel suite.

"If I had to show my solidarity andsupport for someone, it would be toward the woman who has been assaulted, ifthat is really the case that she has been," Salgado said.

The IMF, with 187 countries as members,plays a key role in stabilizing exchange rates and providing bailout packagesto nations under financial stress.

Strauss-Kahn, who was a top contender forthe presidency of France, has been intricately involved in stabilizing theeconomic free falls of countries like Greece and Portugal.

The IMF board has appointed American John Lipsky, second in command at the fund, to serveas acting chief in Strauss-Kahn's absence.

A White House international economicadviser and former deputy Treasury secretary, David Lipton, would take Lipsky'sNo.2 position, Reuters reported.

"The board was briefed regardingcriminal charges that have been brought against the managing director during aprivate visit to New York City," said IMF spokeswoman Caroline Atkinson.

Laurence Parisot, the head of the Frenchemployers federation known as MEDEF, said Strauss-Kahn should resignimmediately.

"Whatever happens, and whatever theoutcome of the process, the time it will require in theweeks and months to come will hinder him from doing his job as managingdirector," Parisot said.

"And we clearly need a managingdirector who can devote himself totally, fully andfreely to his job."

9,7

Strauss-Kahn's IMF future hinges on bail hearing

WASHINGTON – Dominique Strauss-Kahn's bail hearing Thursday could spell the end of his leadership of the International Monetary Fund.

If a New York judge denies bail for Strauss-Kahn or imposes highly restrictive conditions on his freedom, the IMF's executive board would expect him to resign, two senior IMF officials said Wednesday. If he didn't, the board could remove him on the grounds that he couldn't lead the IMF from a jail cell or far from its Washington headquarters.

The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the highly sensitive situation. Strauss-Kahn is jailed in New York City on charges of sexually assaulting a hotel maid.

Attempts to reach Strauss-Kahn's lawyers were unsuccessful. The Frenchman hasn't said whether he'll yield to rising international pressure for his resignation.

One of the IMF officials said the fund had yet to speak with its managing director since his weekend arrest. The IMF has appointed an interim chief, but there are no procedures for suspending or placing its leader on extended leave.

As a result, any prolonged legal troubles would mean that Strauss-Kahn would have to resign to avoid being ousted by the 24-member board. The board can meet whenever it wants to decide on Strauss-Kahn's future, the official said.

The other IMF official said the board will insist on a meeting after the court hearing. The board can remove Strauss-Kahn without cause, the official noted.

While Strauss-Kahn remains confined to a Rikers Island jail cell, the dividing lines are sharpening in a dispute over whether someone from a rich or an emerging economy should lead the IMF after his exit.

Europe is aggressively staking its traditional claim to the top position. But fast-growing nations such as China, Brazil and South Africa are trying to break Europe's grip on an organization empowered to direct billions of dollars to stabilize the global economy.

Europeans have led the IMF since its inception after World War II. Americans have occupied both the No. 2 position at the IMF and the top post at its sister institution, the World Bank. The World Bank funds projects in developing countries.

Europe has "an abundance of highly qualified candidates" to lead the IMF, German government spokesman Christoph Steegmans declared Wednesday. He also noted the relevance of having a European at the helm, to deal with the debt problems that have racked the eurozone.

Steegmans didn't name any potential candidates or say whether Germany might propose one. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel, along with the finance ministers of Sweden and the Netherlands, have pressed Europe's case for the IMF leadership.

Still, developing nations see Europe's stranglehold on the position as increasingly out of touch with the world economy. China's is now the world's second-largest economy. India's and Brazil's have cracked the top 10. Many emerging economies are sitting on stockpiles of cash and have become forces of financial stability, while rich countries have become weighed down by debt.

"We must establish meritocracy, so that the person leading the IMF is selected for their merits and not for being European," Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said, calling for a "new criteria" for leadership. "You can have a competent European ... but you can have a representative from an emerging nation who is competent as well."

China suggested it was time to shake things up at the IMF, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu saying the leadership "should be based on fairness, transparency and merit."

And South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan spoke in stronger terms. He said the new director should come from an emerging economy, to "bring a new perspective that will ensure that the interests of all countries, both developed and developing, are fully reflected in the operations and policies of the IMF."

It remains unclear which way the United States is leaning. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday that Strauss-Kahn is "obviously not in a position" to run the IMF, escalating the pressure on the 62-year-old economist.

The United States has a major say in determining who will head the fund, in part because it holds the largest number of votes. The prevailing view among analysts and former Treasury officials appears to be that Washington would back a strong European candidate who could be approved in a smooth process.

"It's kind of not our fight," said Phillip Swagel, a Treasury official in the George W. Bush administration. "There are very good reasons to have a forceful, prominent European head of IMF."

One such candidate would be French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.

Other Europeans touted as possibilities are Germany's former central bank chief Axel Weber; the head of Europe's bailout fund, Klaus Regling; and Peer Steinbrueck, a former German finance minister.

Candidates from elsewhere include Turkey's former finance minister, Kemal Dervis; Singapore's finance chief Tharman Shanmugaratnam; and Indian economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

More possibilities include Trevor Manuel, South Africa's former finance minister; Mexico's central bank governor, Agustin Carstens; and former Brazilian central bank president Arminio Fraga.

Strauss-Kahn was removed from a plane Saturday at John F. Kennedy International Airport, moments before he was to fly to Paris. He was supposed to meet Sunday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss aid to debt-laden Greece and then join EU finance ministers in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday.

Strauss-Kahn's flight from Washington was paid for by the IMF, with an approved stopover in New York, the official said. That meant his New York visit was in a private capacity. He was not accompanied by security personnel or any IMF aides.

The official said Strauss-Kahn's security team was supposed to meet him at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport. His assistants were already in Europe.

___

McHugh reported from Frankfurt. Associated Press writers Christopher S. Rugaber in Washington, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Charles Hutzler in Beijing, Bradley Brooks in Sao Paulo and Anita Powell in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110518/ap_on_bi_ge/imf_future

Key Words: Bail, Future

Comment:
I am kind of supporting Kahn, and believing that this is much possibly a trap set by others(US for example), but Kahn has his own weakness after all. He is doomed to fail at his weakness. This may not only be a failure to himself, but it may also be bad for euro or even the world monetary system.

BEIJING - The speculation about whether a Chinese candidate could step forward as the chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been picking up steam across China after Dominique Strauss-Kahn's arrest over an alleged sexual assault on a hotel maid.

The Associated Press (AP) reported on Wednesday that China's Zhu Min, a special adviser to Strauss-Kahn at the IMF, is one of the potential candidates for the position.



  
Zhu declined to comment on the issue. "I have meetings all day," he was quoted as saying by AP.

Zhu assumed his position at IMF in May 2010, after serving as deputy governor of China's central bank and after a six-year stint at the World Bank. He holds a PhD and an MA in economics from Johns Hopkins University.

According to tradition, a European chairs the IMF while the United States provides the leader at the World Bank. But voices supportive of a candidate from the emerging economies are growing louder, as the developing nations become a driving force in the world economy.

"Europe's history of chairing the IMF may be broken this time, given several strong reasons: The IMF chief is usually not promoted internally; the alleged sexual assault followed by the arrest happened suddenly; and voices from the emerging markets have become louder in recent years," said Guo Tianyong, an economist, and director of the Research Center of the Chinese Banking Industry at the Central University of Finance and Economics.

He said if China could win a nomination qualification, the other suitably qualified Chinese candidate should be Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank governor, who possesses international perspective and has good proficiency in English.

AP reported that four Europeans stand a possibility of replacing Strauss-Kahn. They include the French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, the former head of the German central bank Axel Weber, the head of Europe's bailout fund Klaus Regling, and Peer Steinbrueck, a former German finance minister.

From the developing regions, potential candidates include Turkey's former finance minister Kemal Dervis, Singapore's finance chief Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the Indian economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia, South Africa's former finance minister Trevor Manuel, Mexico's central bank governor Agustin Carstens, and a former Brazilian central bank president Arminio Fraga. In Europe, officials including the Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter have urged the 62-year-old Strauss-Kahn to resign to avoid further damage to the IMF.

Li Daokui, an adviser to the Chinese central bank's monetary policy committee, agreed that the chances of a European stepping in to the position are slim this time, but he said supporting a Chinese candidate is not a best choice for the country.

"I think a talent from a neutral and small country would accord more with the interests of the world including China, because big countries such as India and Brazil have too many national interests," he said.

Developing countries have spent years attempting to reform the IMF's voting system. In December 2010, the 187 member states adopted a set of voting right reforms that will double quotas and lead to a fully elected executive board.

Brazil, China, India and Russia will be ranked among 10 largest shareholders as a result, and China is expected to take third place, following the US and Japan.

British Prime Minister David Cameron suggested earlier that the IMF should look for its next chief outside Europe and the US to increase its global standing.

"If you think about the general principle, you've got the rise of India, China and South Asia, a shift in the world's focus, and it may well be the time for the IMF to start thinking about that shift in focus," he told BBC Radio.

But Europeans won't readily give up leadership of a key financial institution that is overseeing global economic stability, particularly with Greece, Ireland, and Portugal facing a debt crisis.

On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she preferred another European to lead the IMF, given that the institution is already deeply involved in the bailouts of struggling European countries.

President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso told Dutch television on the same day that he would not engage in speculation but if a successor is necessary, the European Union should propose a candidate.

China Daily

9 9 keep study

2--2
Judge Grants Former IMF Chief $1 Million Bail
by The Associated Press

A judge has agreed to free the former IMF chief from a New York City jail while he awaits trial on charges that he sexually abused a hotel maid.

The judge set bail at $1 million, and approved an elaborate arrangement under which Dominique Strauss-Kahn would be confined to a private apartment in Manhattan and monitored by armed guards.

Strauss-Kahn will also have to take out a $5 million insurance bond.

The former head of the International Monetary Fund arrived in a Manhattan courtroom Thursday afternoon wearing a gray suit and an open blue shirt. He turned to give a quick smile to supporters in the gallery that included a daughter and his wife, the television journalist Anne Sinclair.

The 62-year-old banker and diplomat has been behind bars at the city's bleak Rikers Island jail complex since his arrest Saturday.

A prosecutor began the hearing by announcing that a grand jury had found enough evidence for an indictment, a procedural step that elevates the seriousness of the charge.

"The proof against him is substantial. It is continuing to grow every day as the investigation continues," said Assistant District Attorney John "Artie" McConnell.

An attorney for Strauss-Kahn, William Taylor, said that Sinclair had rented an apartment in the city where her husband could be confined and watched by an armed monitor, although he suggested few precautions were necessary.

"In our view, no bail is required to confirm Mr. Strauss-Kahn's appearance. He is an honorable man ... and he has only one interest at this time, and that is to clear his name," Taylor said.

Strauss-Kahn resigned as managing director of the International Monetary Fund late Wednesday, saying he needed to focus on clearing his name.

His lawyers have promised he won't flee to France. The defense team made a similar request Monday that was denied.

Scores of reporters lined up outside the courtroom door before the hearing, with still more journalists and cameras poised outside the building. State court system spokesman David Bookstaver said the media throng was one of the biggest at the courthouse since Mark David Chapman was arrested in the 1980 killing of John Lennon.

Prosecutors have opposed Strauss-Kahn's release, saying his wealth and international connections would make it easy for him to flee.

Strauss-Kahn is charged with attacking a 32-year-old housecleaner Saturday afternoon at his Manhattan hotel suite. The 32-year-old West African immigrant told police that he chased her down a hallway, forced her to perform oral sex and tried to remove her stockings.

In his resignation letter, released by the IMF executive board, Strauss-Kahn denied the allegations against him, but said he would quit to protect the institution.

The political wrangling over who will succeed Strauss-Kahn at the IMF already has begun. European officials, including Germany's chancellor, the European Commission and France's finance minister, have been arguing that his replacement should be European.

Some authorities from China and Brazil have said it is time to break Europe's traditional dominance over the position and appoint someone from a developing nation. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has asked for an "open process," without mentioning any specific candidates.

竞争又要开始了。。。。。。

10,10
Who Should Be the Next Chief of the IMF?The International Monetary Fund will need to find a new leader. Dominique Strauss-Kahn has resigned as managing director. Mr. Strauss-Kahn is charged with a sexual attack on a cleaning woman at a New York hotel last Saturday. He said in a resignation letter released Thursday by the IMF that he denies the charges "with the greatest possible firmness."
His fall has especially shocked Europe. The IMF is currently playing a major part in rescue loans to Greece, Ireland and Portugal. European nations have increasingly depended on the fund to help them in their recent struggles with debt.
The IMF and the World Bank grew out of an international conference held in the United States in nineteen forty-four. They were created as ways to support economic cooperation and development.
Both are both based in Washington. The World Bank has traditionally been led by an American and the IMF by a European.
But fast-growing economies in the developing world say it is time for a change. Officials from Brazil, China and India say Mr. Strauss-Kahn's replacement should come from outside Europe.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, leader of Europe's biggest economy, disagrees.she said: "In the present situation, when we have significant problems with the euro and the IMF is very much involved there, there should be a European candidate with support from the international community."
The main job of the IMF is to help make sure payments flow smoothly between nations. Sometimes this means providing loans so governments can meet debt payments.
The money it lends comes mostly from "quotas" -- financial promises made by its members. One hundred eighty-seven nations belong to the IMF. The lender currently has about two hundred fifty billion dollars in approved loans. Most of these loans have not yet been used, or drawn down.
What effect the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn will have is unclear. He was praised as a skillful negotiator in dealing with Europe and the global financial crisis.
STEPHANIE RICKARD: "But the actual negotiations of the loan conditions on the ground is done by technocratic economists, staff members at the IMF, and they’re going to continue to do their job."
Stephanie Rickard is an expert on the IMF and World Bank at the London School of Economics.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn became managing director in two thousand seven. The Frenchman widely known as DSK is a member of France's Socialist party. Before his arrest, he was considered a leading candidate for France's presidential election next year.